Half a million Ukrainians subjected to police torture – human rights activist says

October26200919:10

human rights activist Yevhen Zakharov from Kharkiv

Torture of prisoners by police is widespread and is common knowledge. However, there is no statistics, as torture cases are reported only by victims, with only isolated cases coming into the open, human rights activist Yevhen Zakharov from Kharkiv said, addressing the 2nd East European conference held in Lviv.

There is a certain system of extorting information from prisoners which is being successfully used by the law-enforcement.

Forcing prisoners to admit their guilt by torture is a crime for which investigators must be brought to account. However, torture cases are very difficult to investigate because they are stonewalled by superior law-enforcement officials, Zakharov went on.

According to the human rights activist, about 500,000 persons were tortured in 2004, with the figure remaining as high in 2009.

The positive aspect of the problem is that it is in the public limelight. Nine years ago the officials admitted torture, with no cases being investigated. Now the Interior Ministry is determined to pull the plug on police torture, Zakharov said.

The ministry has its regional representatives to deal with human rights violations. However, not all the cases of police torture are investigated as the system offers strong resistance, Yevhen Zakharov added.